Posted on 10/23/2005 2:22:30 AM PDT by Hadean
BAGHDAD (AP)--The U.S. military confirmed Sunday that four U.S. contractors were killed and two wounded in Iraq last month when their convoy got lost and was attacked by insurgents and a mob north of Baghdad.
The attack happened Sept. 20 in Duluiyah, about 75 kilometers from Baghdad. It was first reported Saturday by the U.K. newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
The paper said the contractors were employees of the Halliburton Co. (HAL) (HAL) subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, the biggest U.S. military contractor in Iraq. But Maj. Richard Goldenberg, a spokesman for Task Force Liberty in north-central Iraq, said he could not confirm their identities.
The attack occurred when the convoy, which included U.S. military guards riding in Humvees, made a wrong turn into the mostly Sunni Arab town, and insurgents opened fire with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Goldenberg told The Associated Press.
"Task Force Liberty soldiers, which have a forward operating base in that area, responded to assist the convoy, administered first aid to two wounded contractors and evacuated the remains of four contractors killed," Goldenberg said.
He said there were no U.S. military casualties. He also said his men, acting on a tip, returned to the area two days later to detain an individual suspected of ties to the attack. The U.S. troops then killed two insurgents after coming under fire, he said.
It was not known why the U.S. military had not reported the deaths earlier. Two other military spokesmen said Sunday the military generally relies on U.S. government officials to report the deaths of U.S. civilians in Iraq.
Goldenberg said the convoy was being protected by a separate division of the U.S. military and that Task Force Liberty soldiers responded because it was traveling north through their district when the attack occurred.
The Telegraph reported that two of the contractors who were not killed in the initial attack were dragged from their vehicle, which had been badly shot up, and forced to kneel in the road before being killed.
The paper said, "Killing one of the men with a rifle round fired into the back of his head, they doused the other with petrol and set him alight." It said, " Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man's body to stoke the flames." The crowd then "dragged their corpses through the street, chanting anti-U.S. slogans," the newspaper reported.
Goldenberg said he could not confirm such details since his men were not at the scene when the attack occurred. But he questioned a part of the report saying the U.S. soldiers escorting the convoy were unable to respond quickly because the hatches on their Humvees were closed. He said gunners generally have open positions on top of such vehicles.
The incident recalled an attack in March 2004, when a mob in the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah killed four U.S. security contractors, mutilated their bodies and hanged them from a bridge.
In its report on the Sept. 20 attack, The Washington Post said Sunday that the killings brought to about 320 the number of non-Iraqi civilian contractors killed in Iraq since the U.S. invaded in March 2003, according to statistics complied by the Brookings Institution.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man's body to stoke the flames."
TROP
How come the title and most of the story seem to imply at first that the U.S. military killed the contractors?
Ah, well, boys will be boys.
OUR gov't, military and media whine about our guys burning a couple of rotting corpses while they say nothing about the rotten muzlims who burn LIVE Americans...
And the children involved as well...A few cluster bombs or napalm would solve that problem quick...
The headline would lead you to believe that the military killed the contractors.
Happy Ramadan 2005!
General Casey has been a big disappointment.
A full invasion of Ramadi has been in the order for months.
We have lost 21 soldiers in the last 6 weeks. Enough of the PC game. We need to go house to house in Ramadi and clear out the thugs like we did in Falluja.
What on earth are we waiting for? This town must be pacified, Fallujah-style. Immediately.
Brave soul. That place gives me the heebie jeebies. :)
I thought the same thing.
Nobody is going to talk much about this burning incident....
And we throw enlisted reservists in prison for putting
underwear on terrorists heads....(while their commander retires with full bennies)
So it did happen.
This Administration prefers to publicly shaft our soldiers when they do something wrong, and then invite Muslim leaders to the White House to initiate Ramadan and feed the public more TROP speeches. Unacceptable!
Happy Ramadan, truly. Great religion. Great celebrations. And they WHINE about we burned the rotting corpses? I still think the glassification of Mecca is a good solution.
The Sunni residents have not learned anything. We need another Fallujah over here, and kill everyone to show what it means to fight against the US.
MOUT Master?
What is your position on the fire team?
Glad to see you are ready for the assault!
"War hath no fury like a non combatant."
- Charles Edward Montague
Yes, it did.
Regards,
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